Thrivent Financial Appleton, WI Nominated by Fox Cities Performing Arts Center
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HRIVENT FINANCIAL, HEADQUARTERED IN APPLETON, WISCONSIN and Minneapolis, Minnesota, is dedicated to “connecting faith and finances for good.” The company strives to help its customers be wise with money and live generously, and as part of this mission, Thrivent sets an example for its customers by making generous contributions to important and meaningful causes in the communities it serves. The arts are a major cause that Thrivent is dedicated to, for the company recognizes that strengthening arts organizations and arts programming helps to build and sustain healthy and vibrant communities where its members and employees live and work.
Over the past 10 years, Thrivent has donated approximately $17.8 million to local arts organizations in its key communities. Thrivent was among the first businesses to join the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center’s annual giving campaign in 2004 and has maintained support for the Center’s programming annually, including title sponsorship of the Education Series. Beyond financial contributions, Thrivent is dedicated to establishing unique relationships with arts organizations, working together to develop programs that embrace the culture, heritage, and faith of Thrivent and its members, as well as ensuring the success of its partner organizations. For example, Thrivent has sponsored events such as the “Nordic Landscapes: A Mirror of Nature” exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and Jesus Christ Superstar at Chanhassen Dinner Theater in Minneapolis.
Thrivent works to engage its employees with the arts through various company initiatives. The company has a very generous corporate giftmatching program and annual employee giving campaign, which encourages employees to donate to important causes. Thrivent also encourages employees to share their creative talents by participating in the Thrivent Choir or by submitting original artwork to online auctions as part of the company’s annual giving campaign. Thrivent leads the way in supporting the arts in the communities it serves. Through the company’s unique efforts, Thrivent strives to be an inspiration to other businesses and individuals by showing how supporting the arts is essential to the vitality of local communities.
“Thrivent Financial is committed to ensuring the quality of life for our employees and members in the Fox Cities and beyond. We are a proud supporter of the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center and organizations that make our communities thriving places to live and work.” -RICK KLEVEN, VICE PRESIDENT, THRIVENT FINANCIAL
In addition to its support of the arts, Thrivent also boasts one of the finest corporate religious art collections in the United States at its corporate center in Minneapolis-Saint Paul. The collection includes more than 800 pieces from masters such as Rembrandt van Rijn and Albrecht Durer, and the specific historical and theological nature of the collection makes it one of the most educationally significant religious print and drawing collections in the country. Thrivent makes much of its vast collection available for public viewing and has also allowed certain artworks to be circulated internationally to museums, educators, and historians for various exhibitions, lectures, and scholarly publications.
Photos (opposite page, clockwise from top left) Rembrandt van Rijn, Christ Preaching (La Petite Tombe), Etching, engraving, and drypoint. c. 1652. Image courtesy the Thrivent Financial Collection of Religious Art. • Fox Cities Performing Arts Center, Thrivent Financial Hall. Photo credit: Wenger Corp. • Fox Valley Symphony, supported by Thrivent Financial. • Fox Cities Performing Arts Center patrons. Photo credit: BJ Fleming. • Fox Cities Performing Arts Center, Red wall honor for Thrivent Financial. • 30th Anniversary Exhibition 2012, Thrivent Financial Gallery. Thrivent Financial Collection of Religious Art, Minneapolis.